We need to be aware of where our chocolate is coming from. Is it from a manufacturing plant in China? If so, it could be contaminated with melamine, that same chemical that has been found to have contaminated baby formula!

Nestlé today inaugurated a new state-of-the-art milk factory in Erguna, near Hulunbeir, in the Chinese Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The ceremony took place in the presence of the regional authorities and Mr. Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman and CEO of the Nestlé Group.

Since the Nestlé Group began investing in China two decades ago, the Company has opened 21 factories in 18 different sites across the country and today employs about 13,000 people. In 2006, Nestlé had sales of CHF 1.9 billion in China.

The new milk powder factory is situated in an area of high-quality natural grasslands and will help Nestlé to cope with increasing consumer demand for the Company's milk products. Today, Nestlé buys fresh milk from some 40,000 Chinese farmers and provides them with an overall regular income of around CHF 500,000 per day, fostering a rural sustainable development for the communities concerned. At least 200,000 people benefit directly and indirectly from Nestlé’s milk activities in China. In addition to being a reliable and regular buyer of fresh milk, Nestlé has provided daily technical assistance to the farmers over the last 20 years, helping them to increase the quality, quantity and efficiency of their fresh milk production.

American candy companies Mars and Hershey say their candy is safe to eat after Cadbury discovered the industrial chemical melamine in some of its Chinese-made chocolates.

The Hershey Co. said Monday it has never purchased milk ingredients, including powdered milk, from China.

Mars North America said in a statement that its operations in China do not get any ingredients from companies found to be selling melamine-contaminated dairy products. It says the Chinese food-safety agency tested samples of Mars China's milk powder suppliers and found them to be free of melamine.